Netanyahu faces coalition battle

MAAYAN LUBELL

WITH just two days to go, ­Israel’s prime minister ­Benjamin Netanyahu remains in pole position to win the forthcoming general election, but his victory is unlikely to be far from a walkover.

Recent polls showed Israel’s right-wing and religious bloc winning a slim parliamentary majority of 63 out of 120 seats, with Netanyahu’s Likud-­Beiteinu group on course to be the largest party in the ­Knesset, albeit with eroding support.

However, a relatively weak showing at the ballot box for Netanyahu, 63, would make him more susceptible to the demands of his prospective coalition partners, smaller right-wing and religious parties on which his ­government would have to rely to survive.

Those parties are likely to include Netanyahu’s natural partners, the fiercely pro-­settler Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) and ultra-orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism.

Netanyahu may also face more pressure from abroad, with international condemnation growing over the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem – land the Palestinians want for a state, along with the Gaza Strip.

Support is coming in from many directions. Yesterday, US billionaire Donald Trump announced he had recorded a YouTube endorsement of Netanyahu for re-election because the Israeli prime minister asked him to.

Trump told Shalom TV that Netanyahu called and asked if he would “do an ad or a statement” to support his campaign. The real ­estate tycoon said that Netanyahu was a “great man and a great prime minister”.

Yesterday, Netanyahu took on the settlements issue saying he would not give in to calls to halt or reverse the drive if re-elected.

“The days of bulldozers uprooting Jews are behind us, not ahead of us,” Netanyahu told Maariv newspaper. “I do not volunteer concessions. Our record shows that.

“We have not uprooted any settlement, we made settlements stronger.”

“The entire world will look at only one thing after the election, whether the ruling party has shrunk or grown. If we grow, that will give us the strength to face pressures,” said Netanyahu, clearly concerned by his recent decline in the polls.

He has attracted some unusual opposition. An Arab woman toiling on the fringes of Israeli politics for nearly two decades has broken out of obscurity in this year’s election with a non-conformist message that’s resonating with protest voters. The message of the Daam party is as unconventional as its leader, Asma Aghbaria-Zahalka, 39.

She preaches for the nationalisation of key industries – a rare idea in this capitalist land. She calls for coexistence with Israel’s Jewish majority as fervently as she demands ­Palestinian statehood. She’s a Palestinian woman who heads a Jewish-dominated party even though she hails from a conservative Muslim family.

Although she’s a long shot for a seat in parliament, Aghbaria-Zahalka has capitalised on exposure she gained during last year’s massive social protests across Israel. She has gone from talking to near-empty rooms to drawing packed crowds at meetings – including some in bars – where she urges listeners to vote her party on Tuesday. “People are searching today for an alternative,” Aghbaria-Zahalka told a packed, trendy bar on an evening in Jerusalem recently.

Observers often contrast her with Israel’s sole female Arab MP, Hanin Zoabi, whose passionate defence of the Palestinian cause has made her widely despised among Israeli Jews.

But despite his detractors, Netanyahu is still in prime position to secure a third term following a long and lacklustre campaign, largely devoid of emotion or central themes.

While support for centre-left parties has edged higher, they have failed to present a united front or convince most Israelis that they are ready to take charge of a country alarmed by turmoil in neighbouring Arab states.

Although Netanyahu has repeatedly said that dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions will be his priority if he wins re-election, the issue has barely registered on the campaign trail. A recent poll said 47 per cent of Israelis thought social and economic issues were the most pressing concern, against 10 per cent who cited Iran. Some 18 per cent saw negotiations with the Palestinians as the priority.

US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2010, weeks after they had begun, over a dispute on continued settlement construction.

The Palestinians say Israeli settlements, deemed illegal by most of the world and United Nations’ resolutions, will deny them a viable state.

Israeli commentators have said Netanyahu might seek a partnership with at least one centrist party after the election to bring a more moderate voice into his cabinet and try to allay international concerns.

Former foreign minister ­Tzipi Livni, who heads Hatenuah (the Movement) and TV-star-cum-politician Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid (There is a Future), have not ruled out joining Netanyahu. They are projected to win up to eight and 13 seats respectively.

Labour, which is set to be the second largest party with up to 17 seats, has already said it will not join a Netanyahu government.

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

The Scotsman provides news, events and sport features from the Edinburgh area. For the best up to date information relating to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas visit us at The Scotsman regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website The Scotsman requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.